Movie Review: Shylock - 3/5

Shylock Story: Producer Prathapa Varma locks horns with Boss, a money lender, after he fails to pay back what he owes the latter. Why is Boss so interested in the battle with Prathapa Varma?

Shylock Review: 'Be it old generation or new generation, Boss is always the hero', says Boss (Mammootty) when Commissioner of Police Felix John (Siddique) asks if he is interested in a twist like in new generation films, where the villain turns hero all of a sudden. Like Ajai Vasudev 's previous films, Rajadhi Raja and Masterpiece, Shylock is all about the 'hero' played by Mammootty .

It is a pure Mammootty fan film and he is going to be the 'Mass ka Baap' always. If anyone wants to raise an eyebrow about anything in the film, particularly the punch dialogues thrown by Boss every now and then, he replies that 'the 'cinematic bullshit' … 'will continue till the end' and continue it does.

Producer Prathapa Varma (Kalabhavan Shajohn) is at the location of his latest film and as he is in discussions with the director about the extended schedule of the movie, he gets a call from Boss. He ignores it and then enters Ganapathy (Hareesh Kanaran) with a warning to not evade Boss' call. Prathapa Varma continues to do so and while the set is prepared to take the hero's entry shot of the film, there comes the real 'hero' of the film making his way hitting everybody coming his way.

Boss is a money lender and Prathapa Varma has cheated him by not returning the money he owes. Despite the warnings by Boss and his assistants, Prathapa Varma with the help of his commissioner friend continues to mess with Boss. And the battle begins. The question is, why is Boss so interested in the battle with Prathapa Varma? Is there a story inside the story?

Like one of the dialogues in the movie, the film begins as a comedy, then becomes a thriller and ends as a revenge story and throughout we could see Mammootty's one man show. 'The mega star's mega performance' is accentuated by thumping music from Gopi Sunder, Renadive's cinematography and punch dialogues by Aneesh Ahamed and Bibin Mohan. The pleasant aspect of the movie is the story of Boss' ‘annan’ (Raj Kiran) and Lakshmi (Meena) which happens in Kambam Theni, resembling the Tamil film stories that we have been watching.

Throughout the movie, Mammootty keeps mouthing Tamil film dialogues from Rajinikanth movies and occasionally of Vijay films which triggers nostalgia among the mass film fans. But the question is, why are we always holding on to the old classics? Are we so lacking in creativity that we have nothing to do with a 'mega star' other than putting old wine in the new bottle and garnering claps. The movie is a pure mass entertainer , with the formula of a masala movie, including a special dance number.

For the fans of 'mega star Mammootty', Shylock is a treat and for the followers of actor Mammootty, this is a complete 'no'.